I Wore My Pappy's Pants

DESCRIPTION: Parody of the hymn "Jerusalem": "I wore my Pappy's pants To the Easter Monday Ball, They were too long, So I rolled them up, And I heard the people call, 'He's a-losin' 'em! He's a-losin' 'em! He's a-losin' his Pappy's pants!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1983 (Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood)
KEYWORDS: humorous derivative clothes father
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 164, "I wore my Pappy's pants" (1 text)
Roud #25403
NOTES [142 words]: According to the notes in Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, this is based on "The Holy City," by Fred E. Weatherly (from whom see "Danny Boy") and Stephen Adams (1892). There isn't much relationship between the parody and the original; Weatherly's text reads
Last night I lay a-sleeping,
There came a dream so fair,
I stood in old Jerusalem
Beside the Temple there.
I heard the children singing,
And ever as they sang,
Methought the voice of angels
From heav'n in answer rang;
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Lift up your gates and sing,
Hosanna in the highest,
Hosanna to your King!
Adams's melody is interesting; the version I have is scored in D♭ (in which key it is almost unsingably high, but it lists versions in reasonable keys). It appears to be in the Lydian mode -- the G♭ notes are all marked as G natural, meaning the song is full of tritones.- RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: KSUC164B

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